Shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday, police responded to a call from a man who said he was a victim of a robbery on Oak Park Drive. Jean Pierre Penny told officers he had met a woman through Plenty of Fish with the user name “Young and ready 234.” Penny said the woman had texted him through another dating site, KIK, using the name Rene Smith, and that the two of them made arrangements to meet.

Penny said he had been instructed to drive to the end of Oak Park Drive and meet on a barely noticeable garden path on the dead-end street, according to a police incident report.

Penny told police he realized that something about the arrangement didn’t make any sense, and he texted Rene Smith, asking her to come out and meet him. Penny said he drove through the path and received a text to stop where he was and turn his lights off. He did so, then turned them on a few moments later to see a man coming from behind. Penny said the man had a cloth covering his hand, and he thought that the cloth might be covering a weapon.

Gideon said Hancock told officers he did not carry a weapon but wanted his victims to think that he did.

The report states that Penny played it safe and handed Hancock his money. Hancock then told Penny to turn the car lights off again and continue to move forward, then he turned and ran back the way he came. Penny then received a text from Rene Smith, telling him to “hurry and leave,” which he did.

On his drive home, Penny spotted a Spring Hill officer on the side of the road and stopped to tell him about the robbery.

Within the hour, officers responded to a call from a second victim, William Smith. Smith said that he had met a female named Rene on Plenty of Fish and that Rene had used the screen name “Lilwhitegirl1132.” Smith had been given similar instructions to those Hancock allegedly gave to Penny. According to a police report, when Smith pulled on to Oak Park Drive, he saw a large black man walking alone on the road. Smith said that he then decided to back out and go home. Shortly after, Smith received a text from Rene, asking him to go back to the spot and meet with her. Smith agreed.

Smith drove to the end of the road and waited as instructed. He then received a text telling him to exit his vehicle and walk on the path. Smith decided to leave the scene a second time, but as he was preparing to do so, Hancock appeared from the right side of the street, with his hand covered in a cloth. Hancock tapped on the door of the man’s vehicle and demanded money. Smith gave him $200 in cash, then Hancock fled.

After the incident occurred, Smith drove to Lawrence County and spoke with police, who told him to report the incident to Columbia police.

“After chatting with the victims (online), he (Hancock) would make an offer of prostitution,” Gideon said. “Then the victims would come to Columbia to consummate the deal. He would give them directions to the end of Oak Park Drive and rob them of their money.”

Hancock was arrested Sunday night about 8 p.m.

The case remains under investigation. Gideon said that while Penny and Smith are the only two victims known at this time, there could be others.

“People should know that when they’re chatting with someone online, they don’t know who they’re talking to,” Gideon said. “In this case, these two victims were talking to someone who planned to rob them and who wasn’t even a female. Just because they showed a picture of a female online does not mean that’s who you’re talking to.”

The incidents occurred only one day after the arrest of a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Top Ten Most Wanted list criminal, Lesandru Deniesh Webster. Webster, who has a history of disguising herself as a man, and a co-conspirator, Britni N. Jones, allegedly used a Facebook scheme to lure a victim into being kidnapped and robbed. The cases are unrelated, but police urge internet users to use caution when sharing information or meeting people they contact online.

“The basic moral there is not to disclose anything online unless you know who that person is,” Gideon said.

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